There are certain bands that manage to simultaneously transcend the genre labels that critics try to fit them in while also ultimately being the bands that finally define that niche. Think about Arcade Fire for a second. Nominally, we might call them baroque pop, but eight years removed from Funeral, "Arcade Fire" has virtually become its own subgenre of music for exuberant, communal displays of baroque pop pleasure. Sigur Ros are labeled as post-rock (a vague and ultimately meaningless bit of nomenclature if there ever was one), but today, they've become the shorthand for achingly beautiful and bombastic waves of almost heavenly sound. We could play this game all day. The point is that there are certain artists who are simply too ambitious and talented to be pigeonholed into any one niche, and they deserve a more substantive conversation about their music. It may be easy to call Bloom from Baltimore duo Beach House "dream pop," but to do so would belittle the strikingly gorgeous and intricate album they've created.

...keep reading...